Mexican Novelist Juan Rulfo Dies at 67

By VICTOR VALLE

Jan. 9, 1986 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Juan Rulfo, a Mexican author who was one of the most prominent forces in what is called the “new boom” in Latin American literature, has died of a heart attack in Mexico City. He was 67.

Rulfo, who died Tuesday, first won acclaim in 1953 with publication of “The Plain in Flames,” a collection of short stories. His first novel, “Pedro Paramo,” was published two years later and is now considered a classic.

Although his first work appeared when he was 35, Rulfo published only two other major works after that.

Described as a very quiet and private man, Rulfo destroyed other novels he wrote shortly after they were completed because he was not satisfied with them, according to his biographer, Luis Leal.

“He was one of the first important novelists of what is now called the new Latin American novel,” said Leal, professor emeritus in the Chicano studies department at University of California, Santa Barbara.

“Pedro Paramo,” which chronicles the life and death of a powerful and ruthless land baron, has had a profound impact on Latin American writers because of Rulfo’s innovations in the structure and language of the novel, Leal said.

“There are several scenes in ‘Pedro Paramo’ that make you think of ‘Ulysses’ (by James Joyce),” Leal said, “because the novel is narrated in a stream-of-consciousness style where the people, who are dead, think about their lives.”

Leal said the influence of Rulfo’s novel can be seen in another classic of Latin American literature, “The Death of Artemio Cruz.” The work by fellow countryman Carlos Fuentes tells the story of a corrupt industrialist through the dying man’s chaotic, unconscious reminiscences.

Rulfo’s work also provides insights into the character of the caudillo , the political strongman who is an archetypal figure in Latin American politics and history, said Jean Franco, director of Latin American and Iberian studies at Columbia University in New York.

“Basically, what we see in ‘Pedro Paramo’ is the macho code of honor that drives the caudillo ,” Franco said. “There is an implicit critique of machismo here. This rings true today because people all over the world still exercise power through violence and machismo .”

Rulfo’s second published novel, “El Gallo de Oro” (“The Golden Rooster”), was released in 1980. It was written years before, but Rulfo did not allow publication until 1980 because he was not satisfied with the text, Leal said.

Rulfo, who lived for the last 20 years in Mexico City, is survived by his wife, Clara, and four children.